A rookie New York City police officer unintentionally shot and killed an unarmed man in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project Thursday night in an incident that Mayor
Bill de Blasio
said “appears to be a tragic mistake.”

Akai Gurley, 28 years old, was shot once in the chest moments after two officers conducting a patrol entered a “pitch-black” stairwell of a building in the Louis H. Pink Houses, said Police Commissioner
William Bratton.

Mr. Gurley was pronounced dead at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center.

“This is a tragedy,” Mr. de Blasio said. “A life was lost and my heart goes out to the family of the young man who was lost. We don’t know enough yet, but it does appear to have been an accident.”

New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton said at a news conference that the shooting of an unarmed man in Brooklyn by a rookie NYPD officer appeared to be accidental. Photo/Video: Associated Press

A preliminary investigation determined that no words were exchanged between Officer Peter Liang and Mr. Gurley before the shooting, authorities said. Officer Liang, 25, was with fellow rookie, Officer Shaun Landau, 27; both had been on the force for less than 18 months.

Mr. Bratton said Mr. Gurley was a “total innocent” and “was not engaged in any criminal activity of any type.”

A person familiar with the investigation said Officer Liang made comments to Officer Landau right after the shooting that indicated his gun went off accidentally.

Related

Mr. Bratton said it appeared Officer Liang had “no intention to strike anybody.”

The shooting of Mr. Gurley, who is black, drew sharp reactions from the city’s elected officials and civil-rights leaders and was likely to attract new scrutiny to the police practice of searching public-housing stairwells.

“The senseless killing of another unarmed African-American male by the NYPD should shock the conscience of all New Yorkers and the nation,” said U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a black Democrat who represents the area.

Brooklyn District Attorney
Kenneth Thompson
called the death “deeply troubling” and vowed “an immediate, fair and thorough investigation” into whether criminal charges should be filed.

Officer Liang has been placed on desk duty and stripped of his badge and gun, a 9mm Glock, pending the outcome of the investigation.

An undated family photo of Akai Gurley.
National Action Network

One question that investigators may focus on, Mr. Thompson said, is the lighting in the stairwell. Residents say the stairwells are dark, frightening places where the lights are always too dim or aren’t on at all.

Authorities said an autopsy report would be crucial to determining how the shooting occurred.

The shooting took place at 11:15 p.m. Thursday during what police call a “vertical patrol,” at 2724 Linden Blvd., a section of Brooklyn where violent crime has gone down but remains a problem.

Mr. Gurley had entered the stairwell on the seventh floor with a friend, Melissa Butler, to get to the ground floor, Mr. Bratton said.

Officers Liang and Landau had taken the elevator to the top of the eight-story building to check the roof and noticed no lights in the stairwell leading to the roof, Mr. Bratton said.

Officers have discretion to conduct the searches with their guns drawn but have to justify it, Mr. Bratton said.

Officers Liang and Landau opened the door. Officer Liang fired a shot, striking Mr. Gurley in the upper left chest, police said.

Mr. Gurley made his way to the fifth floor of the stairwell before collapsing, police said. The officers initially retreated and then came downstairs to find Ms. Butler giving Mr. Gurley first aid, police said.

New York Assemblyman-elect Charles Barron, left, comforts Melissa Butler, a friend of shooting victim Akai Gurley as Mr. Barron’s wife, City Councilwoman Inez Barron, speaks to members of the media Friday. Mr. Gurley was shot by a police officer in the hallway of the Louis H. Pink Houses in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Keith Bedford for The Wall Street Journal

Appearing at a news conference with Ms. Butler, Assemblyman-elect Charles Barron said the officers didn’t immediately help Mr. Gurley and said an ambulance took five to 10 minutes to arrive. “This young man should be alive today,” Mr. Barron said. Ms. Butler didn’t comment.

Mr. Bratton said 911 was called immediately and an ambulance was dispatched at the same time.

Mr. Gurley lived in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn with Kim Ballinger, the mother of his 2-year-old daughter, said Kirsten John Foy of the National Action Network, a civil-rights group representing Ms. Ballinger.

Mr. Foy called Mr. Gurley “an aspiring entertainer,” and a profile on the website Explore Talent said he was seeking work as a model or actor.

“He was a father, a loving father. A loving spouse, and he’ll be missed by his family,” Mr. Foy said.

Officers Liang and Landau, whose assignments included some of Brooklyn’s most troubled housing developments, were working overtime to help reduce violence in the Pink Houses, where there have been several serious crimes in the past month including a shooting over the weekend, Mr. Bratton said.

The Pink Houses have experienced two homicides so far this year compared with none for the same period last year, but overall crime is down at the development by 28% for the year, according to NYPD statistics.

Patrick Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, issued a statement noting that the Pink Houses are among the most dangerous housing developments in the city.

“Only time and a thorough investigation will tell us what transpired in this case,” he said.

The shooting follows other high-profile cases of unarmed people dying at the hands of police, including Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner on Staten Island.

The mayor’s office said Mr. de Blasio, his wife, Chirlane McCray, and Mr. Bratton met with Mr. Gurley’s family for about 10 minutes in Red Hook on Friday night. Top city and police officials were dispatched to key points across Brooklyn. The mayor’s office sent Marco Carrion, the head of City Hall’s community affairs unit, to the scene. The head of the police department’s community affairs unit, Chief Joanne Jaffe, went to Mr. Gurley’s home. Mayoral aides said City Hall had been in touch with a host of black ministers, including the Rev.
Al Sharpton.

Mr. Bratton talked with the district attorney Tuesday morning and pledged full cooperation. According to people with knowledge of that discussion, Mr. Thompson was concerned that the NYPD and unions that represent its officers would work publicly to diminish Mr. Gurley’s credibility and make light of his criminal history. The people said Mr. Bratton assured the district attorney that wouldn’t come from him.

Corrections & Amplifications Eric Garner died after a confrontation with police on Staten Island. An earlier version of this article identified him as Kevin Garner.